Fujiko adds “seducing women” to the special talents section of her resume

I’m not sure if writing about Mine Fujiko is an appropriate activity for Mother’s Day, but ah well. Here I am anyways. My mom’s away for business, but I’ve already sent her some mushy words and wished her the best on this special holiday. Have you? Get on that right now if you haven’t! Yes, stop reading this and do it! Done? Alright, good, let’s get this show on the road then.

This week, Fujiko is posing as a teacher in an all-girl’s school so she can edge her way into the heart of a girl named Isolde. Her father was a famous researcher, and her necklace is the key to deciphering them and unlocking their secrets. Fujiko-sensei is very popular amongst all the girls to the point where they’re all fiercely in love with her, so they quickly grow jealous of all the time Fujiko is spending with Isolde. A group of her more devout fans gang up on Isolde and cut her hair in a church to try and make her more ugly. Isolde visits Fujiko in tears for some grief banging to heal the pain, but things don’t go quite as planned. Isolde knocks Fujiko out and ties her to the bed, revealing her identity as Oscar. Yes, he’s been undercover all this time to try and catch Lupin and Fujiko, and no one even noticed.

He leaves Fujiko to marinate in some wine and then sets out to catch Lupin..by letting himself get captured. He plays the role of the fragile girl quite well and lowers Lupin’s guard so much that he barely reacts in time the same group of mean girls appearing with guns. They try to gun down Lupin and Isolde, but he manages to outrun them and escape to a green house. This is still within Oscar’s plan, as the greenhouse serves as a prison for Lupin and the girls obey his every command now. Now all that’s left is to have Zenigata pick them up. Unfortunately, Fujiko escaped already. She tricks Oscar into thinking that she is torturing Zenigata by playing recorded clips from when they were having sex, so he reveals the secret of the paper. Lupin also escapes somehow, leaving the two of them to split the reward while Oscar is humiliated.

Bonus Screenshots:

“Mmm, you smell like money. Uh, I mean…honey.”

Don’t worry, I’m sure these owls know exactly what they’re doing.

C’est vraiment romantique (until Lupin’s hand slips and he gets a feel of the wrong kind of lumps)

End Thoughts:

So, how many of you saw that twist coming? I did. I thought Isolde’s voice sounded like Oscar’s as soon as she spoke, and she had the same rosy lips, blue eyes, and long eyelashes as well. I spent the rest of the episode waiting for him to reveal himself. The twist was rather clearly telegraphed, but I still enjoyed the episode nonetheless. It was predictable, but still kept the Mine Fujiko spirit flowing the entire time. What’s more perfect than having her seduce an entire school of girls? I love how her sexuality is being pushed so far that gender doesn’t even matter; Mine Fujiko will have her way with you no matter what. As expected, this makes Oscar her ultimate rival. He will never fall for her that way…although that doesn’t mean he’s impervious to her other thieving skills, such as that tricky necklace swap. I prefer seeing Oscar chase after Fujiko instead of Zenigata because of how much he loathes her and all that she is. While everyone is kissing her feet and risking their lives to steal alexandrite peacocks to win her favour, Oscar is hissing in dissent at her very existence. It’s a nice change, and it makes Oscar a little bit of a special character to me. The only temptation he’s liable to give in to is anything related to Zenigata, as seen by his desperate attempt to save him in the end.

I’m not a big fan of yuri, but I did like the shift from the perfect, schoolgirl romance that shifted into Oscar kneeing Fujiko and tying her to the bed. I know teacher-student romances usually go down the drain, but….never quite like that. XD It would have been better if I hadn’t seen it coming, but oh well. I mostly liked how the directing took a step back up, and the framing of the shots seemed better and the imagery a little more artsy and interesting. It made Oscar’s reveal a little more dramatic and interesting to watch. I especially enjoyed how he re-recited that forlorn love poem, but in a completely different context. It was never for Fujiko – it was always for Zenigata. The wine-pouring was probably not something a normal person would do, but whatever, it looked cool. The schoolgirls suddenly getting a hold of guns was also pretty out there, but I’m not one to be too fussy about details in an action anime. Well, except Zetman, which had so many glaring flaws that I…whoa, almost went down a dark path there. Let’s forget all about that horrible stain that mars my blogging track record.

I hope to see more episodes like this one! I may have seen Isolde being Oscar and Fujiko using the sex tape for her evil doings, but the concepts were still cool. Fujiko recorded that thing ages ago, so there had to be some planning involved to make sure that scene would become important later on. Very nice. This week even had a little bit of Lupin, although he played a very minor role. He’s usually against Fujiko, but it seems like thieves will band together if they have a common enemy (the police). I doubt they’ll ever team up again unless it’s necessary, but I do quite like when they act close and work in unison…even if it’s just to help steal something and throw the cops off their scent. Lupin can’t have his precious one-day-to-be-stolen Fujiko handed over to some pigs now, can he?

One last thing I want to talk about are the odd, colourful “flashbacks” to a child version of Fujiko being tested on by….owls. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this, but Fujiko never acknowledges these memories herself. Based on the Lethe River theme (and the recurrence of what I assume are lethe butterflies) that’s been going on for a while, I guess she’s just…forgotten her past. It’s a shame because I really want a NON-CRAZY version showing what the hell happened to her as a kid. Was she experimented on? The flashbacks (or what I assume to be flashbacks) are all terribly weird and incoherent. Hmm. At least they’re pretty.

I personally couldn’t get over the twists being telegraphed so early and obviously. The schoolgirl actually being the male assistant, then Zenigata’s recorded audio on the phone – when they are that obvious, the fact that the characters are dumb enough to fall for them takes away too much from the suspense of disbelief.

It was…yeah, they were both incredibly obvious. It’s a shame, but I still enjoyed watching it for what they were trying to achieve. It’s not too odd for them to fall for the tricks though, because when you’re actually in a situation, you will see what you want to see(and hear)..and that isn’t always the truth.